


Haven't to Deserve

by romanticalgirl



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-09 04:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted 12-27-04</p>
    </blockquote>





	Haven't to Deserve

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 12-27-04

Joey doesn’t say anything as she watches Pacey walk down toward the dock. She knows if she does she’ll shatter the fragile peace they’ve managed to maintain for so long and she’s not sure if she’s willing to do that quite yet. It doesn’t stop her from following him, she’s not sure anything could do that, but she’s reluctant to break the silence.

She hasn’t seen him in years but she still knows the lines of his face, the planes of him, from memory. She had taken an art class in college and rediscovered her love of it. She’d drawn him one night, her hand caressing him in charcoal as he came to life on the page.

“You gonna stand there all night, Potter, or were you thinking about bein’ sociable?”

“You looked lost in thought.”

“Wow. Quite an improvement. A few years ago you wouldn’t have even admitted I had the ability to think.”

“We’ve come a long way from that, Pacey.”

He shrugged and skipped a rock across the undulating surface of the creek. “What brings you home?”

“Family,” she shrugged. “The one tie that will always hold me to Capeside.”

“No matter how hard you struggle to get the hell out of Dodge.” He skipped another rock. “You have to admit though, when you come back here, there’s always someone waiting for you. That’s got to be nice in a way.”

“Nice,” she agreed with a slight nod. “But it also means you can never quite leave it all behind.”

“And you want to do that?” His voice was quiet, deeper than she remembered. “Leave it all behind?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes I look at the girl I used to be and hate her. She wasn’t a very good person a lot of the time.” She reached over and took the rock from his hand and skipped it across the water. “The best I ever was was when I was with you.” She watched as the splashes dissolved back into the creek. “Though that’s not true. I was the best I ever was when I wanted to be with you. Trying to impress you, I think.”

“You were always impressive, Potter.”

She shook her head, moving to sit on the edge of the dock. “Why are you home?”

“I’m moving back.” He sat next to her, staring out at the reeds as they danced in the fading sunlight. “Buying the old Icehouse property and making a new restaurant. Doing my prodigal son bit.”

“Oh.”

“I’ve realized the farther I try and run from Capeside, the closer I end up to it. Maybe I need to show everyone that I’m more than the town screw-up, the loser son of the Chief of Police.”

“Pacey…”

“It’s okay, Jo. The taste of victory really is as sweet as they say.” He got to his feet and touched the top of her head, fingers stroking her hair. “Now you’ll have something else to come home for.”

She watched him walk away, her eyes stinging from the tears that suddenly blinded her. “But still no one to come home to.”


End file.
